“Pristine”

Earlier this year, Lindsey Jordan performed songs from her 2016 EP, Habit, at a venue in Philadelphia; behind her, a projected video cycled through images of mountain vistas and underwater caves. The visuals were an unexpected complement to Jordan’s music—as Snail Mail, she writes songs that combat the acute smallness of suburban youth, filling in empty space with punk-inflected guitar and imagining vantages from which everything feels bigger and more beautiful. “It just feels like the same party every weekend, doesn’t it?” she muses on “Pristine,” the lead single from her forthcoming debut album, Lush. “I could be anyone/But I’m so entwined.”

Lyrically, Jordan’s quite the pragmatist—she doesn’t water down her emotions, nor does she overblow them. She knows there’s more out there for her, but is still snared in unrequited love. “I know myself and I’ll never love anyone else,” she sings frankly. Of course, expressing oneself so candidly without fear of ridicule can be daunting, especially for young women, so even as Jordan is caught up in the bruisings of first love, her assertiveness is a triumph in itself. She seems to sense it, too: Her vocals are strong and determined, her guitar riffs anthemic. As much as teenhood can feel like an emotional prison, and heartbreak like the end of the world, Jordan seems to be finding a way to muscle through it all.